The love of the Father

Pope Francis (Photo credit: Zenit)

The gesture of Pope Francis towards the Iraqi priest ministering to thousands of persecuted Christians who had taken refuge in Ankawa brought tears to my eyes when I read about it.  I thought it was so fatherly, the action speaking more profoundly than any words can convey. For the refugees, the pope personally reaching out to them was a boost to their severely tested faith in the midst of persecution.

The priest, by the name of Fr. Behnam Benoka, wrote to the Holy Father, narrating to him first hand, the difficulties they are experiencing in the refugee center where several thousands of Christians are living in makeshift tents amid dire conditions.

According to CNA News, more than 70,000 Christians who have fled from the Islamic State are in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, which is within 50 miles of territory held by the Islamic State.

Like a typical father that he is, the Holy Father called up Fr. Benoka to assure him of the pontiff’s spiritual closeness amidst their suffering and his prayers for their safety.

The pope’s call came as a spiritual boost to the refugees at a time when they needed it most.

CNA reported that the people were “very happy” to know that the pope called up and talked to Fr. Benoka about their situation in the refugee center.

Pope Francis earlier has called on the United Nations for an international humanitarian intervention on the situation in Iraq. He also sent Cardinal Fernando Filoni as his personal envoy to Iraq to assess the situation and also as a show of his solidarity with the people there.

In the face of evil

What do we do when evil stares us in the face? Dietrich Bonhoeffer has something to say about it:  “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

When the ISIS went on rampage and sowed terror among the Christian population and other minorities in Northern Iraq last month, the world simply looked and blinked.

It took a while before the leaders of nations realized that the forces of evil had been unleashed through ISIS who were bent on exterminating Christians and other minorities.

In a letter published by Vatican Radio, Iraq’s ancient Chaldean Catholic Church Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako chided the international community for its inaction amid the ongoing persecution of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria.

The Iraqi Patriarch sadly noted that a month has already lapsed but no concrete action has been done by the community of nations to help the persecuted Christians and other minorities suffering at the hands of militants in Iraq and Syria.

“The curtains have been drawn on the painful events,” Patriarch Sako lamented, “and 120,000 Christians are uprooted from their historical homeland because the  Political Islam does not want them there, and the world is silent, standing still, either because it approves or because it is incapable of acting.”

He said because of the world’s inaction in the face of such atrocities inflicted upon the Christians, the ISIS are encouraged “to  move forward with its ferocious war  against  culture  and  diversity  and  threatening  the  intellectual  and  social  security.” The Iraqi patriarch warned that if not stopped, the ISIS’ atrocities may spilled out of Iraq to neighboring regions.

In fact, Lebanese Patriarchal Vicar for the Maronite Church, Archbishop Paul Sayah also voiced out the same fear.

In an earlier interview by the Vatican Radio, the archbishop said “I think everybody should wake up, otherwise, I think this fire will not limit itself to the region.”

“The way things are going in this part of the world is telling extremist Muslims that they can have their way and that moderation is not (accepted).  We want the international community to stop arming those people, to stop buying the oil they’re selling, to stop training their militants.  We want them - starting with Europe - not to allow them to recruit people.  It’s incredible that those people should be recruiting British and French and Americans and Europeans into their ranks.”

Thankfully, the United Nations is set to intervene on the worsening situation. The Vatican has been calling on the UN to do just that since the beginning of ISIS’ rampage. On Sept. 1 the UN Human Rights Council held a special session which was attended by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations. The UN body passed a resolution condemning the human rights abuses and “requested the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to dispatch a mission to Iraq.”

For the rest of us, we too can do our part even how little to show our solidarity and concern with our Christian brothers and sisters who suffer persecution. Prayer is the best weapon in the face of evil. Prayers coupled with sacrifices, even how little or may appear insignificant, matter a lot when these come straight from the heart.